A Look Back at the 2014 IIUG Conference

The 2014 edition of annual International Informix Users Group conference was held last week in Miami, FL. Another great opportunity to hear the news from the world of Informix, discuss the future of Informix and information management in general with the Informix architects, developers and managers, and last, but certainly not the least, hang out with dear friends.

Looking at the session line up, clearly NoSQL integration has become a very interesting point in Informix’s life. Roughly 30% or more of the sessions covered up some piece of this new feature and possibilities of expansion. Seams like hybrid databases could get a life in this environment. Also, implementation of MongoDB API for Informix (JSON Wire Listener) enabled the connectivity of various frameworks and tools to Informix, which offers some interesting thoughts – like graph database support through TinkerPop API.

IoT (Internet of Things) is another new focal point for Informix database. Mainly because of its great embeddability and auto configuration features, Informix is a database of choice for many automation devices. Shaspa, the company producing home automation control devices, based on ARM processor, has been mentioned as an example more than a few times throughout the conference talks.

There is also a new logical organization in Informix being prepared for the next release. If a DBA handles many databases on a single Informix instance, this organization allows her to define each database as a tenant, confined in its own db space and other resources. This ensures the hardware limitations are not exceeded by a single database, yet enables easier administration of a server, allowing the DBA to have to administer a single Informix instance. This kind of instance is referred to as a multi-tenant server, and is now configurable in Informix as well.

IBM also has a nice new toy, currently in beta, called BlueMix. It is a cloud-based platform for building, managing and running applications of all types (web, mobile, big data…). BlueMix uses open standards, and offers various tools as-a-service, some of which are Informix-based. Definitely worth taking a good look at: www.bluemix.net.

There were plenty more talks on various subjects regarding Informix – total of about 90 sessions, hands-on labs and half-day tutorials. All presentations should be available to IIUG members via the IIUG member site.

As for the venue, the conference hotel was the best we’ve seen on IIUG conferences. Downtown Miami proved to be a very interesting place to hold a conference, and also at much closer reach to us coming from the other side of the Atlantic. Nevertheless, the conference attendance seems to be lower than the previous years, perhaps because of higher prices of the conference as well as the hotel.

And to conclude with some good news, IIUG Board of Directors is giving two IIUG Board of Directors Awards every year, one to an IBMer, one to a non-IBMer. Award winners this year are Ms Anita McKeithen from IBM, and the president of our local Adria IUG and a long-time Informix promoter and educator, Mr Hrvoje Zoković. Congratulations to both!